1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to repairing screens of windows and doors and the like of buildings, tents, as well as automotive and marine vehicles. It also relates to the manufacture of window screens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, the conventional way to effect screen repairs is to replace the entire framed screen section. Screen repairs involving replacement of the defective screen is both time consuming and costly, and a contractor with special tools may be required to effect this type of repair. To repair small tears, holes or other defects in screens, no means other than to manually sew or cover the defect with a solid material is currently available.
The inventors know of no effective prior art relating to the use of screens coated with adhesives for use as a sectional screen repair or screen repair patch, as well as for the purpose of attaching screens to frames thereby obviating the need for screen molding.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,792,473 (Vitale) and 3,391,037 (McNulty) disclose related prior art. The Vitale apparatus describes a self adhesive wallboard tape particularly for use for covering joints in interior wall construction where the substrate is typically a solid layer and may optionally contain a number of spaced holes or be a screen material. The adhesive applied on the perforated tape or optional screen maintains the position of the tape while the plaster is applied and finds use in joining two pieces of drywall on both flat and angular surfaces. Other than high initial tack and long term peeling resistance, the adhesive has no specific requirements regarding curing, aging, life and appearance. The tape is essentially paper or other forms of cellulose which is bonded to the paper surface of the wallboards to be joined and does not require transparency. Holes are provided to merely permit penetration of plaster for added strength.
The McNulty patent describes the application of an open fiberglass material with an adhesive coating on the edges to seal the seams between the sections of wallboards. Again, the objective is to provide means for covering joints in interior wall construction whereby the same quality finishing is achieved less labour intensively than the regular method of bonding paper tape with gypsum compound, drying, sanding and reapplying the gypsum.
A self adhesive wall repair fabric similar to the one described by the McNulty patent is available in rolls from Baymills, Oakville, Ontario under the tradenames FibaTape and Crackstop.TM.. These products apply a woven fiberglass screen with a low peel adhesion and low tack without a release liner. The purpose of this product is to repair holes and cracks in walls. The adhesive attachs the screen to the area to be repaired until the wall repair compound is applied. The adhesive exhibits the required adhesion to maintain the position of the screen however, it can be removed and repositioned quite easily, which is a desired feature in this particular application, as no curing or permanent adhesion is required by the adhesive. It is not designed for exterior use nor to withstand weather extremes in its native state. The bond to the underlying drywall is provided by the plaster or gypsum compound used to repair the crack or the hole. The self adhesive tape eliminates the need for pasting or stapling to maintain the position of the mesh while the gypsum compound is applied initially. It is recommended that the FibaTape be applied in a cross hatch manner so the entire area to be repaired is covered by at least two layers. The mesh size is selected sufficiently large to permit the gypsum compound to penetrate easily through the mesh upon application without any distortion or deformation of the mesh. For effective use and life, it is required that the FibaTape be covered by the gypsum compound.
Prior art summary shows tape materials designed for applications in environmentally protected areas and intended for use as underlayment and bridging prior to covering the gypsum compound.